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The best way to consolidate services among municipalities is to merge public works departments under a special district setup allowed by the home rule law, state government consultants said.

Representatives of the Pennsylvania Economy League (PEL) recently told members of the Mountain Council of Governments that as local governments struggle financially, new ways of raising revenue to provide essential services like police, fire and public works have to be found.

PEL representative Gerald Cross, who works at the organization's regional office in Wilkes-Barre, said current state law limits what can be done to increase that income.

"Local government financing is broken in Pennsylvania," he said. "For decades in Pennsylvania, the answer has been consolidate your towns away. We believe the problem is a financial problem.

"Unfortunately in Pennsylvania, you're only allowed to tax the area within your borders to provide services within your borders. Eventually, your revenue is not available to pay for your expenses."

But in the state's six home rule counties, including Luzerne, current law provides for the formation of a special area, or special district. Cross said the property tax base of the municipalities within the district can be used collectively to raise revenue to provide the services.

"This is just an idea," Cross said. "We don't expect to see someone got out and do this tomorrow. We think it would work best with public works. Every municipality has roads, water and sewer lines."

Cross said regionalization of services is always thought of as another solution, but isn't working under current law. With police, the problem is pension plans.

"The pension plans of city police departments come under Act 205, while the pension plans of other municipal departments - including a regional department - come under Act 600," Cross said. "The two cannot be merged."

Joseph Boyle, who also works at PEL's Wilkes-Barre office, said fire protection is different; if the fire company's personnel are not paid, then it is not part of the municipal government.

"Most fire companies are not municipal organizations," Boyle said. "Volunteer fire departments come under the not-for-profit law, which is separate from municipal government. There are about 1,700 fire companies in the state, and only 35 paid fire departments."

Public works

Cross said PEL's idea is for municipalities interested in pooling their public works departments to move all of their public works expenses, equipment and manpower to the special district.

"A dollar value of public works is assigned a uniform millage levied on each town's tax base," he explained. "It would come off your general fund millage, and be almost like a debt service millage. Instead of going to the municipalities, it would go to the public works regional entity. The county would have to agree to take the assessed valuation of that town and levy the tax. The county would simply act as a conduit."

Cross said the district idea is better than consolidation of municipalities.

"It has a management board and a guaranteed source of funding," Cross said. "It's a way to get expenses out of local budgets and become part of a larger organization that has the ability to consistently raise money. Municipalities have shared their tax base and public works needs and are able to get around the prohibition of local restrictions on using your money."

Cross provided an example of how it the setup would be a benefit.

"As Hazle (Township) grows, West Hazleton gets the advantage of the assessment growth in Hazle, but Hazle doesn't see the loss in revenue because that money would have been spent anyway in a public works format," Cross said.

He said PEL is "working with legislators to sketch out legislation" that would make the special district available in all Pennsylvania counties.

Petrilla said she likes the idea because she has seen it work. Butler Township's road crew has assisted both Freeland and West Hazleton, and the borough's workers have helped the township crew on bigger jobs.

"It seems like it could work," Petrilla said. "You don't use your street sweeper or backhoe every day. We've cooperated for big projects, where you need a lot of help for a little while."

West Hazleton Mayor Frank Schmidt wasn't sold. He said the borough and Hazle Township were close to forming a regional police department when a new official was elected and didn't like the idea.

"It seems so involved to start up, and who knows if it will work out," Schmidt said. "It may be a good thing, but I would have to look into it more."

Petrilla said she doesn't believe police regionalization is completely out of the question.

"I think there are ways to resolve the pension issue with police," she said. "The officers under the (Act 205) plan can be grandfathered in, and the new officers put into the new plan."

jdino@standardspeaker.com

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